***** Wonderful ****Excellent *** Good and solid ** very average * poor

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The Caretaker ****
(MEMO: Everybody welcome Kate. Also, can the set decorators remove the croissants and Tricolor from the Ready Room sets)
Much better than Farpoint and only slightly behind Emissary, Caretaker sets up the premise very well. Janeway is not annoying. The story is interesting. There is no groaning as it confidently sets up the premise. Voyager never suffered from TNG's and even DS9's initial lack of confidence and this episode is one occasion  where that confidence isn't misplaced. It's weird to see the Kazon first portrayed as refugees who don't have enough water to drink and who are the mercy of the Caretaker's array, then later they have a ship that is superior to Voyager that is perfectly able to destroy the array without Voyager's help. It just jars. The Kazon are a race that was handled very poorly on Voyager (much like the Ferengi in most of TNG)

Parallax ***
(AKA: The Undiscovered Anomaly)
This episode, while being quite good, would be the template for so many episodes where some anomaly would appear to threaten the ship and this happens so often that people stopped tuning in. I like this because it does everything it sets out to do. It's just that I would see this episode so many times that it's infuriating.

Time and Again ***
(AKA: The Undiscovered Temporal Anomaly)
Temporal anomaly story that's quite good (though the logic is totally flawed) and against would form a template that would be abused time and Time and Again (couldn't resist). Time paradoxes don't always make for bad stories  if the resources are there and here was a show that didn't feel cheap.

Phage **
The rot starts. The artificial lung subplot might have been more palatable had they kept Neelix sedated and concentrated more on the search. Then Janeway gives in at the end even though the final solution is a total copout. Janeway gives the Vidiian an ultimatum

The Cloud **
(AKA The Undiscovered Gaseous Anomaly)
Very shortly after Voyager's premiere episode, a joke started to circulate about the Show's typical episode. It would be called Anomaly

Eye of the Needle ****
(AKA Kicked in the Balls)
It's very rare that Star Trek is heartbreaking. One occasion was in City at the Edge of Forever, another in Yesterday's Enterprise and another in DS9's Children of Time. This isn't quite in their league but it is a heartbreaker nonetheless. This is how bottle shows should be done but, alas, rarely are.

Ex Post Facto *
(AKA Please Terminate My Contract You Cunts! )
This is the first really lame episode of the series. You knew it was coming but it didn't cushion the blow. A poor retread of Matter of Perspective with the only bright spot being watching Tuvok's investigation. Very different from either Odo, Data and Spock, Tuvok is one of the characters handled best from the get go on Voyager. Voyager's first mind meld is the icing on an otherwise sour cake.

Emanations ***
(AKA The Mummy Mastaba (It's not what you think))
A lot of techno babble in this fairly pedestrian story. AT first it looked as if they would kill Harry to stop him from ruining their beliefs but in the end the threat to him was rather mute. But this episode's one bright spot is the switcheroo, a rather touching end when usually Trek follows the Status Quo (Half a Life, Suddenly Human)

Prime Factors ***
(AKA: Tuvok, the Battery Boy  )
An interesting idea that changes your assumptions about discipline when the crew are so far away from a court martial.

State of Flux ***
(Working Title: Chakotay Sap)
This was a pretty good whodunit type mystery, much better than Ex Post Factor, helped by the fact that Seska was in several previous episodes so it didn't look as fake as the next time there was a traitor. But in the end, Janeway loses Seska. After Voyager got screwed in the deal with the Sikarians in the previous episode and allowed the Vidiians to escape with Neelix's lung, you'd expect a mutiny would be on the cards. But this raises one more question. Every time the prospect of getting home comes up, you know it's going to be knocked on the head by the end of the episode (otherwise no show) but what that means for Trek fans who love happy endings is that the crew will always lose when the carrot is dangled in front of them. And after seeing Martha Hackett as a Cardassian, a Bajoran and a (short) Romulan, I found the latter (on DS9) to be the most appealing look.

Heroes and Demons ***
(AKA: The Doctor and the Viking Warrior Princess )
The Doctor is always more interesting when he's not being a doctor. Unlike his two immediate predecessors, Robert Picardo has made the CMO into a good character again. And of course, the guest cast are very good. Christopher Neame does his best to have appeared in a major role in every SF series ever (He'd already been in Babylon 5, Doctor Who and Blake's 7). And Marjorie Monaghan is always nice to see.

Cathexis ***
(AKA: The Possesion Adventure)
Very, very similar to the first season DS9 story Dramatis Personae in that alien takeovers cause a lot of tension and paranoia among  the crew. Not a bad episode, but not really that interesting as the viewer isn't taken along

Faces ***
(AKA: You Toucha My Bumps, I Breaka You Faces)
Okay. Second Chance. Enemy Within. Faces. This one is more like the Classic Trek story (in that they need each other to survive) but here at least Torres was already split between her two halves and now we see them for real. The Klingon half gets off to a lame start when it looks as though Roxann Dawson was going to give her a staccato voice though thankfully once she gets in her stride she makes a very good Klingon. It is hard to talk when you share Austin Powers' dentist.

Jetrel *
(MEMO: That Neelix guy's still here, just don't spend much)
Hiroshima. Terrible day that stopped a war (or not depending on your point of view). Jetrel. Horrible episode. Period.

Learning Curve ***
(AKA: Tuvok, With Love)
Lower Decks was an excellent TNG episode and the same writers have taken the same idea and reworked it into a Voyager script that really bears little resemblance to the 'template.' Seeing Maquis who didn't immediately know how to do things makes Voyager seem a little more realistic. Tuvok is good, Neelix is Guinan and Torres is ham.

The 37's  ***
(MEMO: Have we run out of ideas so early?)
Could have been two great episodes. The first half was leading one way and the second was leading another and the two don't mix. It's still very US centric of course because of the four speaking sleepers, 3 of them are Americans. Typical. Though of course, they didn't take the easy route and have the Japanese officer as the antagonist. In the end, there is no antagonist, which hurt the final episode. It doesn't work as a season closer (as originally planned) or as a season opener (as it eventually aired as the opener to season two in the US. Janeway having Amelia Earhart as an idol is understandable but you get the feeling Janeway wants to kiss her half the time. I suppose seeing someone you idolise in the flesh is a proud moment especially one from history.

Projections *
(MEMO: Have been asked to clean out my desk after I finish this last script)
This is an incredibly mediocre episode. Let's just leave it at that. Now let us never speak of the poor rip-off of Frame of Mine (itself a poor rip-off of the Prisoner).
...
Elogium **
(AKA: The Ovulate, Ovulate Show)
Okay. This episode is a Kes episode and as such, isn't the most interesting show. But there is a terrible continuity lapse regarding the Ocampa. It's been well established that they only live eight or nine years (Kes is not quite two). But the crux of this episode is Kes' dilemma about entering the elogium at age two when the norm is 4 or 5 years. But a part of the ritual is a parent massages the woman's feet before the bonding. But if a parent has a child at age five and the child enters the elogium at aged five then the parent would be five and probably dead. Silly stuff and stupid lapses make for a pointless episode.

Initiations **
(AKA: The Bonding Pt II- The Binding)
Yes. It is Nog. And just like James Sloyan, it's distracting because yes, it's a bitter Nog. Chakotay would get a lot of episodes this season. And they're all crap. This is no exception. Aron Eisenberg is a good actor and has turned Nog from an annoying side character into one of the most interesting roles on DS9.

Non Sequitur ***
(AKA: Harry has got to be gay)
Harry did a bad, bad thing. Look at Libby. Look at Libby. Look at Libby. A pretty good episode apart from the fact Harry doesn't protest very long before acting like a spy.

Twisted **
(Sign around bum's head on Melrose Ave: "Will Script for Food")
The denouement to do nothing was brave but as far as drama goes, this was done rather blandly, compared to the Space:1999 episode "Collision Course." This isn't great nor is it crap. It's just pedestrian. Workmanlike.

Parturition **
(AKA: Neelix has Six Nipples)
More crap. Paris was another character who didn't get much action last season. He doesn't get any here. How many planets are there in the Delta quadrant that inhibit Transporter function?

Persistence of Vision ***
(AKA: I See Dead People)
This is quite an intriguing episode and although the idea is similar to previous story ideas, it is done well.

Tattoo **
(Working Title: Blazing Shuttles)
Chakotay episode. Crap premise. Indians were influenced by Aliens.

Cold Fire **
(AKA: Okampa We All Just Get Along?)
Oh dear.

Maneuvers ***
(AKA: Kazon the Phone, Right Noe. Can you come back later?)
The Kazon themselves aren't an interesting foe. Add Seska and the Nystrom at least do engage the viewer.
But what is it about Voyager always being bested by Seska and the Kazon?
 

Resistance *
(MEMO: Sigh!)
This is the worst episode of the season. Totally unwatchable tripe. Silver spoons, my ass.

Prototype ***
(AKA: Hey Sexy Mama, Wanna Kill All the Humans)
Torres episodes rule this season. Apart from the design of the robot (A 50's B movie style Robot in a woolen jumpsuit?) this is an excellent episode. Apparently this episode was resisted by the producers because they weren't sure they could pull off a Robot story on Star Trek. Go figure.

Alliances ***
(Working Title: The Janeway Sanction)
An excellent premise and mostly well executed episode marred only by Janeway's massive wimp-out at the end. The Trabe leader transports back to the ship with the away team, leaving the Kazon at the mercy of the gunship (Voyager fires  about photon three torpedoes at the shuttle and merely knocks it about a bit). Janeway moans about being used then transports the Trabe leader back to the safety of his ship. Not pulling something satisfying for the audience like, say, transporting him back to the conference room with all the Kazon leaders. Aside from that niggle, this episode does explain how the Kazon can have ships capable of giving Voyager a run for their money when they hardly seem able to feed themselves. There is now an apartheid parallel that isn't explored simply because people would regard South Africa's race problems as being fixed. They're not. A fair number of white South Africans have emigrated to Australia and a majority that I have encountered have shown no hint of changed attitudes.

Threshold **
(AKA: USS Galapagos)
Well, when Paris was portrayed as a womaniser, I never through he'd actually turn into a lizard. And he gets it on with Janeway. But he's not ready for a commitment.

Meld ***
(Working Title: Spot the Serial Killer)
Few people would consider Voyager as the best incarnation of Star Trek. But it's not in the cast and characters. But easily the best (as more acting is involved) is Tim Russ as Tuvok. He is a fan of the original series and really gets into the role unlike most actors to play Vulcans in the modern Trek era. Brad Dourif plays Suter. Now when you see him in something, it doesn't matter how many false clues are laid out, you always know he's going to be the killer. X-Files, Babylon 5, Voyager, he's played killers in em all.

Dreadnought ***
(MEMO: I can't see there being anything Freudian about Torres in a cupboard talking to herself)
Torres has the best spotlight shows and both of them were Engineering problems rather than a conflict between her different ancestry. It's a bit 2001 in places but overall a solid episode.

Death Wish ****
(AKA: Q-icide)
Q has done quite well over the last few years with his last three appearances in TNG bieng truly excellent, though his appearance on DS9 was a little dull. This is the first time we actually explore the Q continuum, even as a metaphor, and although it's not the most interesting setting, that's rather the point, isn't it. Of course, it's Gerritt Graham who steals the show in this episode. Having Frakes is a cunning stunt, though. Or should I say stunning cu......

Lifesigns ***
(AKA: Lepers are Lovers, too)
The Doctor, like Tuvok and Torres tends to have good episodes on his own, as long he doesn't have to deal with hack SF plots like Projections. A romance that worked, it's a nice episode. Note to Doctor: Never give a Vidiian a hickey. You might just bite off more than you can chew.

Investigations **
(AKA:Trek's brave new experiment- an 'arc')
Is it a Paris episode or a Neelix episode. It's two thirds a Neelix so we'll give this to him. It could have been a bit better but since we already know who the villain is, there's not as much tension as there would have been if we didn't already know the identity of the traitor.

Deadlock ***
This looked as if it might have been Voyager's answer to (TNG) Yesterday's Enterprise or (DS9) Children of Time, but instead, whilst being a good episode, is only a bit better than (TNG) Parallels. Better than it could have been but paradoxically, not as good as it could have been.

Innocence ***
A bit silly and throw a twist in at the end. Tuvok comes out of this very well. He really is the Galaxy's best babysitter. He won't enjoy it, but at least you won't get home and find bruised kids.
MOTHER "Ah little Timmy's fallen asleep. He almost never sleeps when he's got a sitter."
 VULCAN BABYSITTER "Yes, he is quite a hyperactive child but I managed to calm him with a traditional Vulcan, er, neck massage."

The Thaw *
Total shit! An amalgam of familiar storylines like (TNG) Elementary Data Data/ Ship in a Bottle and Masks, this is so much worse than anything else this season. I just wish I had a half * on my keyboard. If a wormhole opened up in Paramount's tape library and swallowed up every copy of this shash, then I would be most grateful.

Tuvix ****
Strangely enough this season, the two best episodes are to all intents and purposes, talk fests father than action or major SF. Several times before we've seen duplicates of our heroes but this the first time two have been merges into one. It's perhaps such an obvious ploy that you have to ask why hasn't it been done before? It's a testament to the script and Tom Wright's performance in the title role that you believe the situation and the character's motivations

Resolutions ***
This was a good idea, though it suffers from one of Star Trek's two most infuriating writing problems. One is the two minute wrap up and the other, as seen here, is the thirty second wrap up. This usually comes when the writer is so excited with their idea that they can't be bothered with wasting act I with a set up and instead do everything in the teaser. This could have made a good two parter with the teaser being where "To be Continued..." would appear. Still, penultimate episodes of seasons tend to be the quiet before the storm, yet this has almost as much action as the season finale. And it's a better show to boot. Chakotay is Janeway's bitch.

Basics, Part 1 ***
It's a good episode, but... Chakotay would have to be Voyager's biggest liability. For one, he's a poor judge of character having been duped by not one but two spies on the Maquis ship. Then he manages to fall into every trap Seska lays for him. Face it, folks. He's a jinx.
...

Season 3
There was a determination to try and lose some of the baggage Voyager carried in the minds of fans this season and in my opinion, they mostly succeeded in doing so at the same time keeping the spirit of the show. Voyager's confident season three boasts a solid lineup of shows after a decent if bland start. Even the smaller stories have much to recommend. There are still a number of disappointing stories but on the whole, this is easily comparable to TNG's third season with a lot more risky concepts.
With a degree of logic, The Kazon are only seen in the first episode and some other earlier Voyager races such as the Vidiians are mentioned but it's actually Alpha quadrant races that appear quite often with The Ferengi, Q and the Borg all making appearances (the latter race three times)
The only things I found unsettling was the casual way Neelix and Kes broke up off screen and the way we seemed to have skipped a month or two just so Kes could have long hair and Jennifer Lien wouldn't have to wear the ears (rather ungrateful since she was happy enough to wear them when she was hired). It also shows the trend in Hollywood where actors don't act when it comes to romantic scenes (ie a 'hot' actress won't kiss an ordinary actor. Ethan Phillips is twice her age, short and bald.) She wants to be a starlet. Is that the ghost of Denise Crosby, I see?
 

Basics, Part 2 ***
(AKA: Seska, the Other Dead Meat)
Typically, the resolution to the end of season cliffhanger has disappointed most fans (Not me) but Basics II is a much more satisfying show. It has it's problems, principally the retaking of Voyager is handled poorly with the best scenes those involving the stranded crew. It was the most I enjoyed Voyager in a while

Flashback ***
Could have been very good but in the end it was just okay. Good to see George Takei but in an attempt to cash in on Star Trek VI's popularity, the story is too much like a poor man's Trials and Tribblations.

The Chute ***
It's a prison story. But being Star Trek, the word 'bitch' is not something you'd expect to hear. So no while this is a bit Midnight Express and a bit Papillion, this isn't the usual Star Trek story.  Janeway at one stage orders Tuvok to show the two terrorists to quarters and make them take a bath. I can just see Tuvok sticking the pair in the brig and turning the firehose on them a la First Blood.

The Swarm ****
This starts out as a good action story but is then sideswiped into a rather engaging Doctor A-story. The melding of the two sort of works though I do have a problem with the balance. I suppose you could compare this to Journey to Babel where the A-story there was Spock's dilemma. If the story wasn't as good as it was, this good have been a severe mistep.

False Profits ****
This was a great show and proved the point that the Ferengi had come of age when you got excited to know Voyager would be having Ferengi on this week as opposed to the days of TNG when a groan would be heard as people perused their TV guides. "Oh F%*" was one.
It has a sad ending but a good show.

Remember **
If it wasn't for Roxann Biggs Dawson's performance, this show would have gotten a single star, but the story is another awful exercise in foisting out own morals on others. Yes, these people have a reprehensible history but Humans in glass starships shouldn't throw dilithium crystals. A stupid point, is when Torres suffers an attack and Kes taps her communicator and says "Kes to sickbay, medical emergency." What is the holographic Doctor (who, at this point, can't exist outside of sick bay and the holodeck) going to do?

Sacred Ground **
This is not a good episode  but I can't explain why. Some shows you watch and they're just terrible the whole way through. This isn't so terrible, but it is a chore to watch. In the realms of Trek, Klingons and Bajorans have cornered the market for  satisfying spirituality and DS9 sated our appetites for this sort of plot. Voyager's efforts with Chakotay leave you numb in that you don't want so much of it after 7 years of DS9, then this comes along and you just switch yourself off. And I hate to typecast, be she'll always be George Costanza's mom and I was just waiting for Jerry Stiller to yell out out 'Serenity now!'

Future's End, Parts 1 and 2 ***
Using similar beats to The Voyage Home. it's hard to take Ed Begley Jr Seriously as this sadistic geek. I know they're trying to parallel Bill Gates but you might think he's the centre of all evil, but I wouldn't exactly be frightened of his visage. Apart from this piece of miscasting, this is a charming story. By far the best element is Sarah Silverman (who should be a bigger star) and her relationship with Tom Paris and the usual Voyager wimping out doesn't allow them a snog at the end. Things would have been better if perhaps they had taken a page out of Bread and Circuses and have a crew member from the time ship helping Starling rather than have some hippy work it out for himself (not so much a stretch, more a stretch limo). And again, Voyager at this stage is not allowed a victory, they often lose and the best they can hope for is a draw, as this story breaks even apart from the Doctor's hologram upgrade which could have been handled better than it was. The subplot in part two (also known as 'padding') where Chakotay and Torres are held by the militia man could have made an engaging episode on its own and made me think how Voyager should have been trapped in the 20th Century rather than the Delta Quadrant or at least for a half a dozen episodes. And the last missed opportunity was the Captain of the timeship just blandly saying a temporal Prime Directive means they have to return to the Delta Quadrant. A bit of fun hinting of major events they shape in the Delta Quadrant. But no... That said, it was still fun but not excellent

The Warlord ****
At first, when I read the synopsis on the back of the video I thought this would be rather lame. Boy was I surprised at how much I enjopyed this episode despite the problems. Tiernan was obviously bi-sexual to embrace his female form so quickly makes more of a statement than TNG's Outcast or DS9's Rejoined. Jennifer Lien's best performance and the best Kes story ever. You really believe she's an insane dictator. Easily the best possession Trek story ever.

The Q and the Grey ***
Voyager's encounters with the Q  have been less about conflict between the CO and Q but more about problems within the continuum. This is a great show for you almost believe Janeway will cave in. The resolution is silly but this is a fun episode. Suzie Plaxon is always welcome on Star Trek.

Macrocosm ***
Apart from the use of flashbacks, this is a very ggod episode for a Janeway action story. Kate Mulgrew doesn't come across as a fan of the Die Hard series which inspired TNG's Starship Mine so for Voyager's take on the Captain alone fighting for their ship is more akin to Aliens. Starship Mine's action was rather lame, but was fun because of Patrick Stewart's obvious enjoyment of the proceedings. Here, there's a scarier survival-horror atmosphere like Resident Evil which makes this compelling. As mentioned earlier, the flashbacks totally wipeout the creepiness of the episode.

Fair Trade **
Very standard and dull, and plays like a really bad episode of DS9.
Garbage.

Alter Ego **
For some reason this is mini-genre in Voyager which is the story that starts off as a Harry Kim story then somewhere along the line ends up as a spotlight episode on someone else instead. It's an okay show but nothing spectacular

Coda ***
This is almost a best of modern Trek's most intriguing high concept shows. First we have a bit of Cause and Effect, a bit of Remember me, a pinch of DS9's Distant Voices and then a bit at the end was new. Wasn't a great ending and seemed a little demonic.

Blood Fever ****
This was a great show for anyone who's in it. Vorik, the fifth monkee, played my Alexander Enberg who played another Vulcan ensign on TNG Lower Decks is quite good , and since they've had him hanging around for a few previous episodes it's a bit more believable but by the time Voyager finishes, if you count  every crew member who appears on screen over seven seasons, I'm sure you'd get to about 300, more than double Voyagers supposed compliment. Voyager manages this better than say Space:1999 (a series who motto could have been "Continuity, Schmontinuity."). Roxann Dawson is finally presented this season as the Klingon babe she was meant to be up until Jeri Ryan turned up. And having her on heat is a kinky thrill for many viewers.

Unity ****
This was a great idea which really didn't have much to do with Voyager, more a Chakotay on his own show. Chakotay, like Riker, should have lots of great shows and in the end got a lot of the 'innovations,' but this is the first Chakotay show I actually enjoyed and more to the point felt was a very good episode, best of the season so far in my mind. None of this Janeway's bitch stuff here.

The Darkling **
When the hell did Kes and Neelix breakup? Did I miss something? The last time Kes and Neelix's relationship was mentioned was in Warlord and they were together then. Did the writing staff just want Kes to have a relationship with someone else. Given Neelix's character (something developed by the same writers), established as a very jealous person, I find it totally ridiculous. Given Trek writers penchant for concentrating on character issues over stories (something that has been muted of late), it seems odd that they wouldn't have managed an entire A-story chronicling the breakup of the only overt couple on the series. Oh well, she's leaving anyway so he's only have to deal with that later on anyway. It's the typical Wasp-centric Trek ethos that a pretty human woman can't be involved with someone other than another anglo-saxon man. Look at how Worf and Troi's relationship was handled, and his marriage to Dax was wiped out when the role was recast. For a series whose proudest moments had been shows like Metamorphosis and Plato's Stepchildren dealing with interracial and even interspecies and who now toy with same-sex relationships on screen can't have a (odd to us looking) Talaxian and an (pretty to us) Ocampa.

Rise ****
This sounded rather lame but in the end was a great Neelix-Tuvok story. Neelix, who like Kes has been attampting to become one of the crew shows he realises the crew still think of thim as a joke and in a great scene in Star Trek tells Tuvok to get bent basically. You could never have seen this in Trek before.
This was a little bit Hitchcock and a little bit Flight of the Phoenix (at least I think that's what it's called- It was about a passenger planet that crashlanded in the desert and the survivors hatch a plane to built a smaller plane out of the wreckage. Pilot Jummy Stewart doesn't think much of plane designer Hardy Krueger, especially after he finds out the man designed model planes. Sound familiar?). Still I enjoyed this episode very much. Still, having cut off Neelix from Kes so arbitrarily, the might have at least allowed him to have a hint of romance with the woman.

Favorite Son ***
A throwback to the days when SF was pure male fantasy of fast action and fast women. How many bad SF stories had the planet of the women in control and this story had the ultimate male fantasy- having to repopulate a planet of mostly women. This story started off with some incredibly poor direction- the dream sequence, for instance. But in the end this wasn't bad.

Before And After ***
Like the previous episode, this starts off slowly and gradually sucks you in getting wierder and weirder. Why crappy? The rather pointless attempts to mislead the viewer from the central premise in the teaser is always irritating, as is the obvious Paris as Kes' husband but the rather strange notion of having Harry Kim as Kes' daughter's husband and being the father of Kes' granddaughter. Having never watched Voyager on TV, only on video and having not watched much modern Trek for about two years but having an idea on what was to come such as a season 4 video awaiting viewing called year in Hell 1 and 2 and knowing of the Krenim, I thought that was a nice touch to foreshadow future enemies in a more interesting way that the Dominion were originally introduced. Usually in these sorts of stories showing us the future, the future is a 'possible' future that is going to be avoided at all costs.
What I hated was the feeling of retooling as we watched. First we had Kes and Neelix's breakup off screen, now she has long hair all of a sudden. Most people say how long it would take to grow their hair so long and here Kes sprouts a long main (it does look better) overnight. Did they pass the Genesis planet?

Real Life ***
Only gets three stars for Robert Picardo. For most of this show it is really boring apart from the brilliant idea the Doctor's rebellious son wanting to be a Klingon. Think about it. All the things kids to to be different (or to annoy their parents in same cases)- piercing, punk music, even rock n roll, what would youth in the Federation's time want to do to mark themselves as different? Be attracted to Klingon culture.
That said until the tissue-fest at the end when Picardo's acting abilities show he's the master on this series, this is a soap opera and one that for the most part should have been left behind on TNG's fifth season.

Distant Origin ****
A brilliant show where we a hardly see Voyager for a while. I was hoping at first for this to be set a Million years after the events in Voyager to see the impact they've had but this turned out to be a good play on religious intolerance toward science (like the US state that doesn't require Evolution to be taught in schools). Almost brings a tear to your eyes. Also proves how Voyager never changes the status quo almost as if the writers were bond by the same Prime Directive as the Federation.

Displaced ***
Blake's 7  was a show where in its second half, the crew almost never won. Like Voyager. Also in the first three seasons, their ship had been taken over quite a few times and again in Voyager we see the same thing. This is a really good story where Voyager wins (because it is someone else initiating events) but this is the sort of story we needed to see in the first two seasons

Worst Case Scenario ****
This is a great roller coast plot starting off as what the viewer thinks is a stale "altered reality" plot, then becomes a great take on the TNG Holodeck fantasy shows and finally into "holodeck possessed/malfunction."  This has become my favourite holodeck show, just pipping Hollow Pursuits for originality. There's even a cute moment when someone suggests as new settings, a detective story or a western (Big Goodbye/Manhunt and Fistful of Datas). It's believable at every turn and for the first time, made me want a holodeck (though I know many wanted one after the Holosuite was introduced on DS9).

Scorpion, Part 1 ****
Voyager has come of age. Every bit as exciting as Best of Both Worlds, part 1 has only one scene dealing with the characters and its a doozy with Janeway and Chakotay diverging from their usual likemindedness (Others might use the phrase Janeway and her bitch). The effects are some of the best in Star Trek and production values that TNG could only have dreamt of in the late 80's when the Borg first appeared (nearly 10 years before this episode). Voyager's best season to date has gotten rid of the terminal overall dullness of its first two seasons with the number of  anomalies encountered reduced markedly.
...
Season 4 (1997-98)
Season Three finally got Voyager's original formula right and now it has changed again. Not quite a retool (Star Trek seems to have been spared that 'kiss of death') not even a change of emphasis like DS9 from the 4th season on, just that Jeri Ryan is so distracting (in a good way). The fourth season is probably Voyager's best (looking back) in that it had fewer clunkers and more pretty good stories. For the only Trek series so far not to have even gotten one ***** storie in my view, this season is as good as it gets.

Scorpion, Part 2 ****
(Casting Call: WANTED: Serious actress to play dehumanised cyborg creature rediscovering her humanity. Pay is good with fan adulation guaranteed. No Fat Chicks)
Whereas the first episode was a mostly action piece with Janeway's dilemmas as the human interest, part two introduces sex appeal to Voyager. Not to say the Roxann Dawson, Jennifer Lien or even Ms Mulgrew aren't attractive but Jeri Ryan is a Trek Bunny who can act (Whereas Chase Masterson was just a bunny whose wonderbra was her best feature). Of course, Chakotay's arc nicely brings into play his experiences last season and resolves the tension with Janeway. Also, it's nice to see how he would treat a situation so differently from Janeway and for a moment when she announces he's been put in the brig you think for once Janeway has actually disciplined a wayward crewman. Jeri Ryan could have easily been some Valley Girl or ex-Playboy Centrefold (such is the media attention she garnered) but she's perfectlly cast even if they go a bit overboard with the Borg Babe costume.

The Gift ****
(Tag Line: Booty Call)
They say when you have a pet who's days are numbered then it is better to get a new pet before the older one passes away. And while that unflattering analogy is logical, the Kes (Easily my least favourite Voyager character) is written out. She even knocks 10 years off the trip home. 7 of 9's arc is also interesting though perhaps it could have waited an episode for Kes to leave the ship before having her go from 90% Borg to 100% babe in the space of one act. If I were Janeway, I would have slapped the Doctor for his sartorial taste. I suppose that getting Jeri Ryan on display was the top priority.

Day Of Honor ***
(AKA: Torres Gump)
A Torres episode examining her half-hearted willingness to embrace her Klingon heritage and her finally admiting her feeling for Paris to his face. Of course her arc is challenged by yet more 7 of 9 who is even more distracting that Marina Sirtis in the middle seasons of TNG. Still, Torres is my favourite Trek woman of all time in that she'd not designed to appeal solely on an hormonal level (though she does). I mean, Gene Roddenberry created Crusher as having a striptease queen walk.
And that the writing team could actually get rid of their hangups of allowing regular crew members start a relationship. (I know about Worf and Troi/ Dax and Neelix and Kes but that last one was never shown as being much more than a platonic one. It's also nice that Vorik is still there after his indiscretion last season.

Nemesis ***
(Original Pitch: Platoon meets Star Trek meets Rambo)
This starts off as a lame take on Platoon with silly "Clockwork Orange" style dialogue taking the place of expensive make-up to depict an alien race. Then as Chakotay got sucked in and we discovered Janeway unknowingly making a pact with the devil. then to find out that Chakotay was duped sort of wiped out the impact of the story just as it had gotten going.

Revulsion ***
(AKA Delta Quadrant Psyco)
Another story that was a slow starter but proved to be a pleasant surprise. Thing is, we already knew the hologram was some kind of psycho with the actor being a stranger to subtlety. But as a pairing up of Torres and the Doctor on an away mission was an interestingf choice. And Harry's expression when 7 says "Do you want to copulate" is priceless. Tuvok's promotion is long overdue (After Chakotay, there were no Lt Commanders, at least none in the senior staff).  This raises a question of if Janeway can promote Tuvok, why the Maquis, specifically the first office and chief engineer still don't wear Starfleet rank pips even though the Voyager crew is supposed to be an integrated Starfleet crew.
 
 
 

Say yes, you fool, Harry!
 
 
 

The Raven **
(Working Title: The Seventh Veal)
This was half decent and half lame. The idea that even with most of her implants removed with some regenerated that she still has a powerful Borg shield is totally laughable. The fact Voyager is overcome from someone overriding every system on the ship is long past a sad joke and the last problem is of course the fact that Seven has to go and wipe the dust from the plaque in the Raven despite having entered via a hatch next to the words USS Raven in very large letters. Logic was not a friend to this story. Being Star Trek, although 7 has to contend with her first meal, I'm pretty sure no mention will be made of what will happen every few hours, nor what will happen every twenty-right days.

Scientific Method ***
(Working Title: See, there are bug under my Skin.)
This is a nice little take-over story that is how TNG's Schizms should have been done. This is by far the best "Aliens conduct experiments on the crew" story. It is getting a bit grating to see yet another Alien species who's technology is able to control Voyager so easily.

Year Of Hell, Part 1 **** ,
(AKA- They Call Me Annorax)
Year Of Hell, Part 2 ****
(AKA They Still Call Me Annorax, No Seriously, they Do)
This is another excellent two-parter that really gets to grips with time-travel dilemmas (one of Janeway's pet hates) with some of the best drama in the series. It's also full of pathos as Voyager is systematically whittled to a wreck and the crew all but beaten. The Voyager segments have a feel close to the 80's TV movie Testament in which a small town unaffected by the blast from a  nuclear war slowly dies from radiation sickness while keeping their dignity. It's a very sad Voyager but like the Space 1999 episode War Games, you know somehow things are going to be restored by the conclusion, It was a bit cheap not actually showing a single member of the alien species Voyager had allied herself to. And Annorax? An anorak is a  a thick nylon coat with a hood, and is to British SF fans what a pocket protector is to their American counterparts. Anorak is even used to mean nerd. Not very appropriate in this case. The disease that killed the Krenim must have been severe chicken pox. Many of the events in this episode were alluded to last season in a Kes story but all of that seems to have been forgotten, even before the first temproal incursion.

Random Thoughts ***
(Working Title: The Dirtiest Meld)
There's something slightly homo-erotic about the parts of this episode are made, those invloving Quill and Tuvok. Poor B'Elana's in the shot again and Paris is going out of his mind with worry. Tuvok had been developed as a Vulcan who was somehow weaker than Spock (He tries a mind meld with Kes in Warlock and she fends him off) and it is this development that makes the ending more satisfying, that and Tim Russ' talent in portraying Tuvok.

Concerning Flight ***
(AKA We were wasting John Rhys Davies in the teasers)
A fun Janeway episode that doesn't avoids many but not all of the pitfalls of a holodeck character becoming something more. Da Vinci lived more than 400 years before any sort of accurate recording equipment existed so rather than a simulation of Da Vinci, he's at best supposition. The Doctor is a program at the peak of artificial intelligence whereas Da Vinci was a program written by, in all likelihood, the 24th century equivalent of a Web Page designer. Since I write AND design these pages, I'm going to take myself outside and give myself a good pounding.

Mortal Coil *
(Working Title: Oops, we forgot Neelix was still on board)
Since Kes and he broke up, Neelix hasn't been getting much action. That is to say, there haven't been that many Neelix stories ina  while, and nine times out of ten they're pretty lame. This is pretty lame. So Neelix loses his faith and wants to end it all. After sitting through this tosh, I can understand his desire to end it all.

Waking Moments ***
(AKA When Harry Met Seven)
This starts off as a rather lame sleep deprivation story that morphs into a ship takeover story (which feels similar to last season's Worst Case Scenario) and actually improves immeasurably as a result. That's something that seems to be happening quite often in Voyager- a story starts off disappointingly then goes off in a much more interesting tangent.

Message In A Bottle ****
(AKA: Remember the Alpha Quadrant?)
This is a wonderful episode for the series and the Doctor with Andy Dick giving a much better performance than you could have expected from a stunt casting (Or a starring cu..). This was made around the time of his 'it-ness' so it's good to see him playing the role straighter than usual and not just a 'Matthew'. The entire thing is both funny and believable throughout and in the end the scene where the Doctor returns to Voyager almost brings a tear to your eye. The geek in all of us would have loved to have seen the Doctor's debriefing at Starfleet but this was finally a victory for Voyager, even more so than Kes' helping hand. Judson Scott (Khan's lead hencemen from ST: II) is the Romulan commander. Nice to see a brand new starfleet ship that's not just either a movie remnant or a Galaxy Class (or just made from Enterprise kits) also as well as more Defiant-class ships. I always get the giggles whenever the Doctor talks to Seven about monitoring her implants.

Hunters ****
(AKA: Pulp Dissection)
A great episode and a creepy one. Even though the Hirogen are the B story, this is a great followup to Message in a Bottle, the angst of the crew receiving letters from home and let's face it, there would have been a lot of bad news what with the Borg attack from First Contact, the War with the Klingons and the Dominion takeover. So there'd be a lot of deaths reported aside from the natural kind (as shown by Chakotay), and the Dear Janeway's. Of course, how come Harry wasn't waiting for a message from his girlfriend (Non-Sequitur).

Prey ****
(AKA: Species 8472- Eve's Return)
Another good show for the Hirogen. Voyager is very similar to TNG in the respect of foes. TNG created the Ferengi but couldn't do anything with them and Voyager had the Kazon and didn't achieve much with them. Then TNG started using TOS foes like Romulans and Klingons, things looked up, the same with Voyager once the Borg were introduced. Now we have had a dozen good adverdaries over the course of the last season and a half.

Retrospect **
Mixed messages ahoy. So if, I'm right, the analogy is of a woman who had been assualted a long time ago but repressed the memories only for them to re-emerge as a feeling of a very recent event. Still, just makes Voyager look like arseholes.

      The Killing Game Pt 1,     The Killing Game Pt 2 ***
It sort of sucked and it was sort of very good. Logic obviously formed no part of the scriptwriting process and there are more holes in the plot than in the holodeck by part two's conclusion (Why extend the holodecks and put emitters in most corridors? Just so the holograpic weaponary works outside? Sloppy.) The main gripe dramatically is the Hirogen seem to have been devalued as a foe so very quickly. Hunters convinced me they were scarier than the Borg or the Vidiians or Species 8472 with all this trophy business. Having a huge Hirogen tower over Seven and Tuvok was highly effective and their menacing and totally alien voices were chilling. Now while the actors to portay them here were very good, they didn't have any of the menace and physical stature to pull it off. The Voices were just human and didn't convey the menace of the previous stories. However, there were a few nice strokes such as actually showing Roxann Dawson's pregnancy and the holographic Nazi talking the Hirogen Number 2 to continue the fight. I almost though they'd gloss over some of the Nazi philosophy (Like TOS Patterns of Force, where the two Jewish leads dressed up in Nazi clobber with nary a concern)

    Vis-A-Vis ***
(Working Title: Tom's fear of commitment)
Tom seems to need a holiday. Bulldog from Frasier is Steth and is pretty good. It starts off to be a rather pedestrian story that perks up the minute the alien's shape falters. The whole thing of Paris having itchy feet is out of nowhere, though. A good alien possession story for a change.

    The Omega Directive ***
(The Right Way, the Wrong Way and the Janeway)
Janeway's simgle minded determinbtaion to carry out Star Fleet directives is hardly any more tirring than her usual moralising. She manages to alienate viewers even more than usual even though she's playing tough. She is in fct playing a military bore, rather the same way Alec Guiness, sticking to the letter of the law even if the circumstances are rather unusual.

    Unforgettable *
(AKA: Regrettable)
This is probably a main reason why Robert Beltrane has bitched the whole time he's been on Voyager and with epiodes like this you find it hard to disagree. This is bilge and no amount of arguing can change that. But you can change the channel. I did. I know I feel better.

    Living Witness  ***
(AKA: Sleep Hologram)
High Concept episodes are those where  a real SF twist is used to drive the A story rather someone's personal crisis and a SF B plot tacked on. Voyager, with its basically bottle show format has managed to shake off that old TNG bugbear of the Soap A story with the barely related SF subplot. But since anamalies became such a cliche in Trek, epecially after the first two seasons of Voyager, the writers have had to go back to coming up with good stuff. While, there is a bit of Buck Rogers in this, you know that this is just a copy of the original Doctor and that he's expendable because there was no way a regular character is going to be left in the future unless the actor has left the show.

    Demon ***
(Memo: Hey, we watched Classic trek last night)
It's so very rare for Voyager to do a show where the plot could have come from the Original Series but that's basically what this episode is and its all the better for it. The sequel was unnecessarily bleak but this was a reasonable attempt to do something not seen in a while. I still wouldn't call it the greatest episode but it is a solid one.

    One **
(Memo- we realise she's the only reason anyone's watching)
Seven basically going mad through loneliness. Jeri Ryan is always watchable but the plot here is on the pointless side.

    Hope And Fear **
(AKA: I coulda been a Contender)
This was almost a very good episode but the last act or so really let it down and as a season closer, it's phenomenally sub par, especially when this ends the series best year.
.
Season 5 (1998-99)
After Season Four managed to get the show into a good place, Season 5 is a big disappointment. It's not as good as four, I'd have to say quality wie, it;s on par with the third season but since it comes after a pretty good year, it remains a disappointment

   Night **
(memo: Opening Night, Schmopening Night)
As the ship moves through the Delta Quadrant towards home, one nice touch is the alien species who appear more than once tended to change. And as viewer apathy from the first three seasons became so great, the Production team realised they needed to beef up the foes so they also looked more dangerous. Unfortunately, the Malon, catagorised in the great Trek tradition as toxic dumpers are another nail in the coffin, fuelling calls for a clean sweep in the writing teams (some of whom have been writing on Trek for 10 years). And the fact they were brought back proves that the 4th season was a fluke.

     Drone ***
(AKA: Yes, it is just a rewrite of The Offsring)
But it's actually a pretty good rewrite and there's enough change of emphasis to separate this story from the TNG story, or DS9's three goes at a similar storyline.
You did feel like this was familar ground but then each act would change direction so that by the end you went from saying 'been there, done that' to 'I'm still watching.'

     Extreme Risk **
(Working Title: Salvage 2)
Well, I suppose it's better than just having a new shuttle design with no explanation whatsoever. So why not build an entire episode around it's contruction. The delta flyer, is not just a runabout that seem to grow larger as time wears on. The Malon are crap adversaries.

  In The Flesh **
(AKA- Humnising another powerful villain)
Another powerful foe bites the dust as we make friends with Species 8472. The Hirogen have been similarly neutered and now we have 8472 learning how to infiltrate Earth. It might have been better had two things not happen, it been another species, and it not be Species 8472. And if  these guys can get to Earth, can't they take Voyaer with them?

     Once Upon A Time *
(AKA: Another F*cking Neelix episode)
How can Quark get good episodes and Neelix keeps getting this shit?

Timeless *
(AKA: Kill two whiny birds with one stone)
The only remotely interesting part of this story was the Doctor but everything else sucked majorly. Poor Seven's head cut open to reveal she's all Borg inside.
There must be something about Voyager's cast because the writers have no problem with killing them off, in a metaphorical effigy, if you like, only to bring them back at the end. No other series has killed off the entire crew so many times.

     Infinite Regress **
(AKA: The Rack)
Apart from showcasing Jeri Ryan's less tangible talents this show is not really "all that and a bag of chips." It's more "Not again, pass the nachos."

     Nothing Human *
(AKA: Nothing Doing)
Dull as dishwater, and about as palateable.

     Thirty Days *
(AKA:He's a Rebel)
I don't see the point of having Paris busted down to Ensign. Comidering some of the other things Janeway's crew have doen and barely been disciplined (such as Tuvok in Prime Factors). It's really a waste. At least they didn't cop out in the end and reinstate his rank. It just goes to show how very little logic is used when the story well is drying up.

     Counterpoint  ***
(AKA- The woollen sheets passed over her eyes)
This isn't actually bad, even on a series that has handled crew romances so piss poorly. Janeway is always suspicious of her suitor while allowing herself to fall for him. Nice to see for Janeway not being duped so easily as she has in the past. She's a trusting sort, our Katherine. The whole notion of the telepaths having to be concealed is an interesting twist to make the proceedings here actually mean something
 

     Dark Frontier,  Parts 1 & 2 ***
(AKA- Hoow to make a Borg)
There used to be a feeling among the production team during the TN years that a Data story would always be good, since his character allowed for so much variety in story telling and Brent Spiner's talent made it a no brainer that a decent to excellent show could be crafted (Though you can't count Masks). Jeri Ryan as Seven is the same. She's a talented actress playing an interesting character (and hot, which helps) so she gets more stories focused on her. Oh, and her boyfriend is executive producer.
That aside, here we see how we skip over important details of continuity (Q Who showed the Federation's first meeting with the Borg where someone lived to tell the rest of the Quadrant about them) and have Seven's parents seeking them out for study. This pair would have to be in the same category of fools as those priest who always try to talk the aliens into believing in God.
I also though the Borg Queen was played as if it wa Seven's mother who had become the Queen but it seems not to be. This is a decent story, but shows how no one , not even the writing team, really cares about the aother member of the crew.

     Gravity ***
(Working Title:  Tuvok Tasks Tank Girl)
Lori Petty will always be remembered as an annoying proto gen actress who believes she is Tank Girl in real life. This is probably the least irritating thing she has ever done and not half bad. Tuvok was never going to let his guard down as he seems to be able to resist things you'd expect him not to be able to. This episode has pretty good production values but ultimately isn't one you'll remember, It's not bad enough to remember nor good enough. It's merely another 'not-crap' episode.

     Latent Image *
(AKA: Worst episode ever)
It's rather strange that Voyager as done a few of these repressed memory stories and they all suck harder than leeches at Leechapalooza. Is it the worst Voygaer episode ever?  Quite possible. It is very bad.

     The Bride Of Chaotica **
(Unhelpful TV Guide synopsis: Tonight, Voyager sucks)
It probably seemed a good idea at the time. It wasn't. It's slow, overracted and loses the viewer someone between "Starring Kate Mulgrew" and "Theme by Jerry Goldsmith." The only genuine laugh for me was the robot. It's not a good sign when a comedy epiode isn't remotely funny.

     Bliss ***
(Working Title: Seven Wonderbras of the World)
More Seven of Nine. No wonder the others are feeling a little stiffed. We hardly ever see anything decent for Torres, and the men folk get nada apart from the Doctor. A reasonable episode but morew than a little dull in places. W Morgan Shepherd is always better as these surly sea-dog types
 

     The Fight *
(Correction: The Shite)
Seven gets all the mediocre to decent stories and Tom, Harry and Chakotay fight over the scraps with the loser bitching to the press. This is just too dumb for words.

     Disease ***
(AKA: Harry PonFarr and the Sorcerer's Stone)
Here are a bunch of words that normally don't go together: a good Harry Kim falls in love episode. And this is probably the closest this character will ever get to havin a reasonably good episode. I liked the second season one when he was in San Fransisco but here he's in love. Musetta Vander could seriously challenge Jeri Ryan for the hearts of male fans but as this is signposted as doomed from the start, you know where this isn't going. And it's Star Trek, so she has to free her people.

     Course: Oblivion ***
(MEMO: Do we have to wait until the end of the 7th season?)
It's obvious that one of Voyager's biggest problems is viewer apathy regarding the main characters. With the exception of Jeri Ryan and Robert Picardo, they just don't have the charisma of the characters in DS9 or the Original series, they ALL have the exact same accent and speak identically. So the writers actually seem to making fun of their poor decisions by inventing a crew just to kill off slowly, something that Voyager revels in doing. Here, these are the people from the Demon-class planet from last season, invented purely so we can kill of Voyager's crew again.

Think Tank ***
(AKA: Seven of Neinfeld)
Yes, Jason Alexander is in it. And he's not half bad as the coldy calculating brainiac. Of course, there are some ineteresting ideas here, something buildinbg since the first season is that as the ship gets closer to Earth, the technologically advanced cultures they meet up with are more and more intelligent and powerful. Any number of them could return the ship home in a short amount of time. But something always comes up.

Juggernaut ***
(AKA: Aliens: The Not so Special Edition)
A valiant attempt to do a creepy action story that onmly succeeds in writing out another alien foe by coming to an understanding with them. Nothing special and not as good as the Janeway Die hard story a few years earlier (The Swarm, actually half a Janeway Die Hard story.)
 

Someone To Watch Over Me ***
(AKA: Someone to Watch Me thjough the hole in the Cargo Bay wall)
Okay, the Doctor has a thing for Seven of Nine. probably a bad move, since she's one of his most regular patients, he's always checking out her Borg implants (please, I've made the joke before), and of course, he's the only member of the crew to have seen her naked (it was he who chose her ensemble). Of course, the idea od the stuck up alien ambassador turning out to be a party animal was a nice touch, completely confounding the viewers expectations. It's ironic that the Doctor's predicament is ahred by a lot of Trek fans but then it is also shared by Kevin Spacey's character in American Beauty. And just look what happened to poor Lester.

11:59 ***
(AKA: Sameway)
This could have been an awful episode and while it wasn't that great as a Star Trek episode, it was actualkly a reasonably engaging story, even if they just caved in at the end to pretent it was a victory.

Relativity ***
(AKA: Seven of Nine, Half a Dozen of the Other)
An intrioguing Time travel story, even if Voyager's cast changes always end up upsetting the continuity of these stories (Kes?). And while bringing Braxton back was an intriguing idea, I can't see even the Federation trying to arrest someone for something he hasn't yet done. It would have been a little better if they had used the same actor, even though Bruce McGill's better.

Warhead **
(AKA: Artificial Intellivision)
A decent little machine comes alive story even if there are shades of Dreadnought from season two. But it also has a lot in common with Drone earlier in the season (They both end the same way)

Equinox ***
(AKA: Mission Galactica)
I wonder why it took them so long to have another stranded Federation ship in the Delta Quadrant?Especially when the two captains disagree over protocols, ethics and the Prime Directive. An interesting two parted even if it lacks some oomph. Oh, the alteranate title is from a two part Battlestar Galactica episode that was also released in cinemas

Season 6 (1999-2000)
Season Six starts off well enough and goes through a slump very early with some average to God-awful episodes early in the run. But around a third of the way through the season, things pick up remarkably and we do get some of Voyager's best work since the fourth season.

     Equinox, Part 2 ***
(AKA- The Equinox Mutiny)
Between seasons, Captain Ransome has realised the folly of his ways and tries to undo some of the damage he has caused only to have his first office take over. Some interesting ethical dilemmas as the crew who were most likely to crack follow the Commander's orders and the hard nose captain is the one to break ranks

     Survival Instinct ***
(AKA: Recycling is Useless)
This isn't an awful episode as most 7 of 9 episodes are at least decent shows but I can't shake the nagging feeling of deja vu. It does hark back to Chakotay's Borg experience in season three but it doesn't feel like a new episode(and not as good as the same episode later in the season). While it allowed for some glimpses into assimilation not alwasy working, it also scrambles Seven's backstory somewhat. taking us into realms of soap-opera style "long-lost" memories. As I said, it's worth three stars as a solid Voyager but the last scene where the departing Borg farewell Seven shows just how old fashioned Star Trek's presentation has become (just like an 80's sitcom).

     Barge Of The Dead *
(AKA: Bumps on her Forehead)
This may not be the worst Voyager episode but it is certainly incredibly boring. Torres has mostly shunned her Klingon heritage and it grates when the writers use the Klingon crutch to get an episode out.

     Tinker, Tenor, Doctor, Spy ***
(AKA: If it's Tuesday, It must be a Doctor story)
This had the hallmarks of being a goofily funny Voyager episode with the Doctor's fantasies being reminiscent of Barclay's TNG stories but it was not to be. The crew of Voyager, with the exception of Neelix and the Doctor are an incredibly cynical lot, treating everyone else's wishes to be a waste of time. If Data had suggested something of a similar nature, Picard would have supported it. Here, Janeway rolls her eyes.
The Aliens were another waste as they are just slightly smarter Pakleds.
 

     Alice **
(AKA: We'll Always Stereotype Paris)
Paris' incredibly one-dimensional character comes to the fore with his sole interest being to restore antigues and the like being the basis of another episode where the production team remembered there were other people in the cast who weren't either bald or in a corset. Sadly, it's a pretty standard possesion story that's also not too interesting.

Riddles *
(AKA: Ritalyn)
Tuvok loses his memory (amnesia stories- I'd forgotten how much I hate them), and Neelix decides to mold Tuvok into something other than a strait-laced Vulcan. Dull and Duller.

Dragon's Teeth ****
(AKA: Dragon's Breath)
Finally, a proper Star Trek story that has action with some moralising. Even though it is now de-rigeur for the people Voyager initially side with to be villains in their own right, this was still an interesting story doen mostly well, though I have to say the Vaadwaur political maneovering could have been a little less dull and predictable.

One Small Step **
(AKA: 50 Valium Tablets)
Despite featuring Phil Morris, it's still dull, dull and duller. Supposed to be about the dignity of the hero/ explorer but what about the dignity of the audience?

The Voyager Conspiracy ***
(AKA: Seven Can Wait)
Probably the least interesting Star Trek idea (for me, at least) is when they take a character and have them go crazy/ be possessed/ mentally affected by a trauma. It gives the actor involved a chance to stretch themselves and play a different character for an episode but quite often, it's often a recipe for disaster. Take TNG's Masks). Riddles a few episodes back did the same thing but Voyager Conspiracy is one of those rare occasions when it works really well. One of the few things to let it down is the way Janeway and Chakotay react as this false Janeway/ Chakotay headbutting that seems to be cropping up more and more is a world away from the Janeway and her 'bitch' relationship of earlier years.
Still, seeing Jeri Ryan playing Seven as more paranoid is fun.

Pathfinder ***
(MEMO: Marina and Dwight need work, badly)
One of the few occasions I ever felt slightly moved by Voyager was when they managed to get some form of communication going with the Alpha Quadrant. Season One's Eye of the Needle and the use of the Hirogen network in Season Four, but to me, none of that 'heart' made it into this episode. Reg Barclay's character seems to have regressed almost to the point he was at when we originally met him back in Hollow Pursuits. The only things that seems to have changes is his hairpiece, which is now more obvious than Madonna's Tour of Afghanistan.
 

Fair Haven  **
(Working Title: Janeway's Identikit Lover)
It's annoying to see the amount of resources use to depict the Irish town of Fair Haven (Turn left at Dublin and board a plan to Conneticut) when the rest of the year sees 19 bottle shows in a row. Feck off.

Blink of an Eye ****
(MEMO: Deconstruction of Falling Anomalies)
Something different in Voyager, a Sci-Fi concept that's interesting. Starting off slow, this soon becomes one of Voyager's most engaging shows, even if it glosses over a few major developments (such as the Doctor's stay on the planet) for the sake of brevity. Honestly, this is the sort of show, voyager does well, even if the crew aren'rt really involved that much in the proceedings until the very end.

Virtuoso **
(AKA: Almost Famous)
If this episode was just to humiliate the Doctor and show us how pathetic he can be, it worked. I've never found a character in Voyager to be so easily hateable as the Doctor in this tripe. Yet again, another arrogant Alien race spouting how superior they are while Janeway and co just smirk and play along. It gets old to have the supposed heroes verbally belittled all the time without even a subtle dig in reply (where's Riker or Sisko when you need them)
 

Memorial **
(AKA Repression Depression)
An ugly sibling to the amnesia story is the repressed memory resurfacing story that has plagued Voyager for a while and here it's combined with the false reality. We've had the Doctor going nuts over a patient he lost, Seven forgetting she was a regular in Unimatrix Zero, etc and now the boys are back from Nam, or are they? In fact, it's not as bad as it could have been with the ending sort of making up for it but it's stories like this that make me feel the mostly burnt-out writing staff just think of a way to torture someone each week and never have consequences. You'd have to think Tom would be psychotic by now.

Tsunkatse *
(AKA: Smackdown)
Not being a fan of Wrestling, having the Rock appear in a cameo or having Seven in a more revealing outfit don't make this josh fly
 

Collective ***
(AKA Careful, He Might Assimilate You)
At first you think this is going to end up another retread when you just know the kids are all going to be reunited with their parents at the end of the episode. And while the threat posed by the baby-borgs is never really explained (you often wonder why Seven just doesn't smack their bots), it ends up being an interesting way to make sure Seven is in every single frame of film between now and season's end. The kid actors aren't in Haley Joel Osment's league but they are certainly up to Star Trek blandards.

Spirit Folk  **
(AKA: Holodrek)
Not a bad episode but it feels like a repeat the first time you see it. The whole Holodeck characters becoming suspicious of the crew has been done to death so many times, you'd think by now the 'safeties' would be left alone by now.

Ashes to Ashes ***
(AKA: Harry's Necrophillia Leanings)
Not great, but not a terrible story either. It could have played some interesting angles if the production team had a character who had died previously on-screen since it seems no one behind the camera is paying much attention to the number of body-bags Voyager is filled since the crew complement seems fixed.

Child's Play ****
(AKA: Meet the Parents, then Kill them)
This is a good episode. At first you think its a standard "difficult reunion" show until that thread seems to get wrapped up rather quickly only to take a disturbing twist with the evil parents.

Good Shepherd **
(Working Title: The Lowest Deck)
Ever since "The Lower Decks" fulfilled a fan's dream to show the lived of those who weren't the stars of the ship, this has been used a few times and like the Mirror universe stories of DS9, the law of diminishing returns is at play here.
 

Live Fast and Prosper ***
(AKA: Used Starships)
This could have been a really funny Voyager but remained a mostly by the numbers and fairly predictable, even patronising story. The entire story is spoon-fed to us as if we were infants in that particular way that Trek does (like in TNG's Clues were every single clue had to be explained "that must have been how I hurt my wrist.").
 

Muse ***
(AKA: One of our Klingons is Missing)
Not a half bad Torres story, not what I'd normally like but could have been a lot worse (as many, if not all crashed shuttle stories are)

Fury **
(Jeopardy question and answer: What do Wil Wheaton, Denise Crosby and Jennifer Lien have in common? What are Doritos?)
Kes is back and it's like she never left...the fridge. Though to be fair there's a lot of bulky Trekkers out there who now have a shot at glory at the next con.
Well, we make fun of the expanding girth of Shatner, Doohan and Frakes so who's for equality? Pretty average story.
 

Life Line **
(Memo: Dwight Schultz's wig needs work)
On a show called Voyager, you know there is trouble when more and more TNG favourites are being trotted out. While it's always a pleasure to see Troi, Reg is getting incredibly annoying as every time he develops during an episode, that development is scrapped for his nect appearance. Possibly realising it is more fun to write Barcaly as he was in Holo Pursuits, the writers keep going back to that model helped by Dwight Schultz playing a parody of a character he originally brought to life. This sort of stranged relationship soap storyline is out of place in Star Trek and was a one of the elements that led to the feeling that TNG started to squander some of its goodwill during the 5th season.

The Haunting of Deck Twelve *
(AKA: Kill me)
This is tripe. I hate tripe. I will haunt whichever ***t wrote this.
 

Unimatrix Zero
See part 2 comments.

SEASON SEVEN
As a rather annoying guest character on Friends would say as her catch-phrase, Oh- My-God!. This season of Voyager is easily the best of the series.
If you haven't watched it, go and do so. NOW!

Unimatrix Zero, Parts 1 & 2 ***
Ever since TNG made cliffhangers mandatory while DS9 went the other way, Voyager has had a hard timre mqaking up its mind which way its going and has decided, as usual, to sit on the fence. As cliffhangers go, this is a little less than Equinox a year earlier but still rather solid viewing. Another potential romance for Seven doomed, but what do you expect when the actress' boyfriend is the Producer? The Borg have been treated kindly by Voyager as they have become the series main alien race, just as TNG eventually came to rely upon races created for the original series for it;s bread and butter. 

Imperfection  **
(AKA: Cry- Borgy)
As medical dramas go, it's not terrible but then medical dramas are terrible so this gets washed away.

Drive  ***
(AKA: Two regulars get engage)
You've had hinted romances between regular characters (Picard and Crusher), past relationships between main characters (Riker and Troi), hoped-for relationships (Bashir and Dax), Worf sniffing around the choice female cast members (Troi and Dax), Sudden relationships (Ezri Dax and Bashir) and of course Neelix and Kes' rather cold relationship. Not counting characters who have been specifically introduced to be a partner for a main chgaracter (Keiko, Bariel, etc), but here we have a relationship between two leads thatleads to marriage and eventually a child, and they all make it to the end of the series alive and together! Just goes to show how much the production team had been in a holding pattern for so long. As soon as talk of what to do for the impending final season came up, all of the good storylines, that actually develop the characters somewhat turn up. And guess what? Those boring characters no one gave a shot about were suddenly turning up in interesting, life altering storylines. I write this a few days before Enterprise premieres in the US, so here's hoping they don't wait until  the 2006-2007 season to do something.
 They actual storyline for this episode was rather reminiscent of the Wacky Races cartoon and The Original Series' Taste of Armageddon and actually means something thanks to the Tom and Torres developments.

Repression ***
(Working Title: One Tuvok the Cuckoo's Nest)
Let's face it, since Kes left, Tuvok has gotten the lion's sharre of the telepathic storylines in the series and Trek has never done anything very interesting with telepaths (And neither did B5 in the end). This one is slightly interesting, even if it becomes a little too obvious from an early stage that Tuvok is to blame.

Critical Care  **
(AKA: Ethics II)
What's less interesting than a medical drama? A medical drama concerned with nedical ethics. This one is reasonbly interesting and allows the Doctor to something interesting and normally against his principles, as you might have seen in B5. Unlike JMS's series, he of course has his guilt to deal with later.
 

Inside Man  ***
(AKA: Evil Reg III: Army of Dorkness)
Still pushing the Barclay/Troi barrow in much the same way DS9 took the Mirror Mirror universe and destroyed it, this episode manages to redeem Barclay in some resepects, yet commits the same sins. After having shown him at the beginning of a relationship we skip forward to see that has evaporated and he has been seeing a mole for the Ferengi. Despiet Barclay's character assassination, ths rest of the story is really quite good with 'evil' Reg becoming the life of the party on Voyager with only a rather wussy Doctor to be slightly distrusting.

Body and Soul   ****
(AKA: Doctor has gained unrestricted access to Borg Implants)
There was a reasonble episode ealry in Jeri Ryan's tenure in which she experienced the personalities of other people. It was rather silly but it did display the actresses range but here she nails the Doctor. I mean, Ms Ryan perfectly captures the mannerisms of Robert Picardo's portrayal. It's also the funniest Voyager episode ever so that's something worth savouring. The gender bending antics also work a lot better than in DS9 when Quark was emasculated because no one could think of a better ending.
 

Nightingale **
(AKA: Surly Harry)
It's noty a bad episode, just a daft one. Harry is deposed yet retakes command by saying sorry? Please
 

Flesh and Blood, Part I, Flesh and Blood, Part II ***
(Working Title: Holograms are People, Too)
Voyager's crew must be particularly susceptible to mutiny (though wasn't Enterprise's also?) becuase there seems to be at least one incident each season where a crew memeber could have been court martialled for their actions yet Janeway just lets them off the hook by sayiung it was all her fault. The only exception was Paris' (temporary) incarceration and demotion which makes Janeway's inability to discipline her crew incredibly galling. The actual story was all right with the Hirogen (my, aren't they a long way from home) getting killed by their own holograms. The real problem is the end of this show in which it tries to return things to the status quo too simplistically.

Shattered  *****
(WTF? A Good Chakotay Episode)
I'd have to say as the only Voyager episode (so far) that I actually feel comfortable in giving 5 stars to, it's even more shockingf to note that it is a Chakotay episode, and involves an anomaly, and time- shifting. Three plot elements that have over the years on Voyager,  become a warning that a very lazy, by -the-numbers episode was in store for the viewer. But somehow, they got it right with actual humour and Voyager's greatest hits selection of situations from previous episodes blended seamlessly into the story. They even managed to do all this without confusing the Kes chronology any further.
Robert Beltrane, who had apparently been publicly saying to anyone who would listen how boring Voyager was, gets a really good episode, even though he doesn't have to do anything more than he usually has to.

Lineage  ***
(AKA: B'ellana's Baby)
Well, ever since Gate's McFadden's pregnancy in season 4 of TNG, the Berman and co have gone to extremes to either hide a pregnancy, or rewrite it so the character isn't 'burdened' with a child. They hit Gate's Mc Fadden's pregancy reasonably successfully, wrote Nana Visitor's pregnancy into the storyline by using her as a surrogate (Well, if Friends can get away with it...) and hide Roxanne Dawson's first child, rather less successfully (when I watched those season four episodes, i had no knowledge of the actress' pregnancy, noticing something was different due to the long vest Torres had taken to wearing tough The Killing Game gave away the game. At last on Trek, they have managed to allow a female cast member's pregnancy to be written into the show, and allow the character to have the child on-screen and keep it. It was a pretty decent episode for this sort of thing.
 

Repentance **
(MEMO: Sorry, thought it was still 1996)
Well, as the least interesting story of the season, this wasn't bad, just dull moral posturing (only a short time after the more successful posturing of Lineage). It's not unwatchable, but it does feel a little lacking after veiwing the surrounding episodes.

Prophecy ***
(AKA: Where are the ****ing Klingons?)
There are several crutches in modern Trek. Some work and some don't. One of the best and most beloved is the Klingon show. They rarely go wrong but when the series' basic premise is that the ship is 30 000 light years away from the Klingon empire and only one Klingon is on board, finding ways to focus on Klingon culture was always going to involve some suspension of disbelief. We've had the very good Season One ep Faces and the crapfests more recently with B'ellana's Mother. The Klingon cult is just a simple idea that worked well.

The Void   ***
(AKA: Another ****ing Void)
This could have been a very bad episode as most that feature discussions over 'sticking to our principles' turn out to be very awful drama indeed, evidenced by the shift away from such stories after the first two years of TNG. This story is actually a decent story with nothing too special to keep you thinking about this episode later.
 

Workforce, Part I , Workforce, Part II ****
(Working Title: The World Needs more Amnesia Stories like this)
It's shocking to see how good this season has turned out. When I first read the synopsis for this episode I thought it would be a typically dull Voyager idea handled with blandness but it did end up being one of the better two-parters the series has featured. Yes, that is Ralph Malph (the softly spoken Doctor masterminding the abductions credited as Don Most) and yes, that is Jennifer Aniston's father at the very end but then these are the Days of our Lives.
Amnesia stories, along with sleep deprivation stories, used to be one of the most pitched-plots on the show and they quickly became overused cliches that mostly produced the worst shows. Not just boring but bad.
Workforce suceeds where other stories failed for the simple reason thatthe story moves at just the right space. Again, Chakotay gets something interesting to do. Janeway gets to have one of her few on-screen romances and even Tom and B'ellana come to an understanding.

Human Error **
(AKA: Hey Brother, can you spare Seven of Nine?)
Seven of Nine suddenly becomes a 13 schoolgirl who practices kissing in a mirror and this story is about as interesting to watch as was any scene involving Data and his cat.

Q2
(Working Title: Little Boy Q)
Yes, it is an obvious riff on Deja-Q in TNG and even though we recognise it as such, it still plays like a decent episode. Nothing we haven't seen before but still a solid episode. John DeLancie must be glad that Q is more or less written out of Star Trek for a while, as he looks a bit bored to be here. But this story is about Q Jnr, isn't it.

Author, Author  **
(AKA: First Person Shitter)
Voyager stories had a very interesting trait that had never been seen before in Star Trek where and episode would feature two distinct stories in one. This might sound interesting until you realise that instead of re-doing an old Star Trek concept again, they would now re-do two old Star Trek concepts , switching over halfway through. The first half is the amusing look at the Doctor's askew take on Voyager, rather like Holo-Pursuits and Matter of Persepctive combines while part Two is just Matter of a Man played almost word for word though at least that story is not recapped at all.

Friendship One  ***
(AKA: How to Nuke a Civilisation without Really Trying)
A decent story about how even a seemingly harmless probe can cause problems. The aliens are convincingly realised though the killing of Carey (He was only a few episodes away from retirement) was really pointless.

Natural Law ***
(AKA: Voyager's Very Last Shuttle Crash/Stranded Crew Show Ever, Scout's Honour)
It seems very odd that the conscious effort to put Chakotay and Seven of Nine together was totally ignore in this episode (when it was the perfect chance to have their romance blossom) but all in all an intriguing episode apart from the seen-it-all before overly officious alien  bureaucrat character to give Paris something to do. 
Seven's  humanity seems to be emerging way too late for subtlety so expect the sledgehammer from here on in.

Homestead  ***
(AKA: Get Rid of Neelix)
Poor Neelix. His girlfriend dumps him and until now was never given much love (Klingons excluded). He was given few positive character traits and pretyy much everyione on Voyager's senior staff seemed to have few good words to say about him. And what's more, even though he had given no thought to staying behind, it seems as though Janeway and Tuvok are trying to get rid of him. That aside, the actual plot of neelix helping the Talaxians is much more interesting than the efforts of his crewmates to get him off the ship.

Renaissance Man  ***
(AKA: Day of the Doctor)
A very interesting idea which is final proof why the Doctor should be deleted forever but the last scene where he is making all of those indiscreet confessions is worth the price of admission alone. Probably why the Doctor posing as Chalotay didn't stumble into Seven and Chakotay's relationship earlier in the piece. Despiet it's dark tone, this does end up in a rather light vein. Those aliens are just too silly looking and sounding to be taken as a threat (like the Ferengi).

Endgame (Parts I & II) ****
(AKA: It's Fiiiiinnnnaaaaallllllyyyy Over)
Voyager did have the distinction of having the best pilot of all the modern Treks until Enterprise's broken bow but the competition wasn't anything too spectacular. TNG and DS9's finales respectively were both excellent (TNG's being slightly better) and while Endgame doesn't quite eclipse All Good Things, it's about on par with What You Leave Behind. It even manages to combine elements of both stories.
It steals "changing timelines," future versions of the crew apart from the crew's beauty having passed away, one character becoming an author (though this was signposted during the series) from All Good Things, and the sudden inter-crew romance and huge blow against the series principle foe formerly seen as almost invincible. Older janeway goes back (full marks to Kate Mulgrew for allowing the makeup to age her a quarter of a century, something that didn't happen so much in All Good things) to get her crew home sooner, opening up an entire Pandora's box of temporal paradoxes in the course of the episode. If Janeway had invented most of the techniques used against the Borg during her original journey home, how could these techniques have been used if successful (?). This was even mentioned by the Borg Queen and promptly forgotten about. Oh well, they got home in the end, and that's what matters, even if no one knows what donuts are.